Introducing Catherine Suski! Marketing Director, People + Tech Advocate
Citizen Health Ambassador 2018
As the daughter of a healthcare provider at a large multi-level care facility, Catherine has been interested in the healthcare ecosystem since she was a teenager. She currently is the Marketing Director of a technology company focused on intellectual property, and has also worked for medical associations, an electronic health records company, and a PR agency focused on healthcare technology. Catherine feels passionately that everyone should have access to high-quality, affordable healthcare.
If you could change one thing about healthcare, what would that be?
“The thing I would change is the profit driven payment model. Most insurance companies are for-profit corporations that seek to raise their stock prices and provide return on investment to their shareholders. They achieve this by charging the maximum amount allowed by state insurance agencies and limiting care.
Big pharma is operating under similar principles, trying to extract as much value as possible from every drug. Even the price of some generic drugs has soared due to mergers and acquisitions reducing competition in the marketplace.”
What is the biggest technological advancement that has the most promise for healthcare?
“Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning have the ability to transform many aspects of healthcare. From drug development to assisting radiologists with the interpretation of imaging studies, these advances can scan through millions of data points and detect patterns in ways that humans simply can’t.
Other industries are already using this technology to aid busy professionals that don’t have time to sort through thousands of pages of documents. The legal industry is now commonly using software with built in AI that ingests court transcripts, discovery documents, and other material to produce relevancy rankings on specific cases for attorneys and paralegals. Healthcare providers should be able to do something similar using patient history, prescription information, and examination findings.”
What would you like everyone to know about technology and healthcare?
“Technology is not a replacement for a human touch — medicine is both a science and an art. Technology is best used as an assistant for healthcare providers who would rather spend their time with patients than doing administrative tasks.
We need to invest in technology that helps healthcare providers do their jobs efficiently without creating additional burdens. It’s a sad state of affairs that the most popular electronic health records system looks like a flashback to the 1990s, and different systems can’t share information. This is a real danger in emergency situations such as car accidents, when patients aren’t capable of providing their drug allergies and medical histories.”
It’s a pleasure to have Catherine with us at Citizen Health. We are inspired by her insights and and are very much looking forward to sharing her expertise with our readers. Catch upcoming writings from Catherine, right here on the Citizen Health Medium page.
Connect with Catherine Suski:
On Medium: Catherine Suski
Follow along on Twitter: @ CathySusk
Learn more about Citizen Health: visit citizenhealth.io
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